You want to feel better fast. That’s natural when anxiety is running your life. CBT is usually the first choice of treatment for anxiety, and researchers who’ve reviewed the practical evidence behind it tend to agree that it works. GPs recommend it too. Yet one question comes up more than any other. How long does it take to cure anxiety?

Impact of different factors on the duration of treatment by CBT

Government Mental Health (NICE) recommendations say patients should have 6 to 24 CBT sessions. That range exists for a reason. Sessions vary from person to person, because every individual is unique and carries a different level of difficulty, so treatment gets shaped around them. Some people suffering from severe anxiety tend to feel better after a few sessions. Others, with mild anxiety, need far more sessions before they heal completely. Several other common factors also shape how many sessions a successful course of treatment takes, and they’re worth knowing before you start.

Anxiety severity

Severity matters most. The most common factor that influences the number of sessions of CBT for anxiety is Anxiety Severity, and it’s divided into three types:

Mild Anxiety

Mild anxiety comes and goes. Not constant. This happens for a short period and in certain situations, and it rarely stops you from doing your daily activities, though you may avoid certain places to keep the feeling away. Some people also experience panic attacks during mild anxiety. The patient feels anxious, but this feeling can be handled

Duration to treat mild Anxiety by CBT

3 to 12 sessions of CBT are required to treat Mild Anxiety. The duration of the treatment also depends upon the personality of the patient. Willingness matters too, since the healing becomes more effective in cases when patients wish to heal quickly.  In London, most therapists use CBT to treat Anxiety patients and consider it as an effective strategy in treating Anxiety.

 CBT helps identify the issues behind anxiety. From there, it suggests suitable strategies for its effective treatment.

Moderate Anxiety

Moderate anxiety is harder to pin down. You often feel anxious every other day, and you don’t know the exact reason behind it, which makes the feeling hard to plan around. You might have panic attacks, and the feeling may stick around for a more extended period. No specific situation seems to trigger your anxiety, and it doesn’t hinder your day-to-day activities, but you experience concentration issues. 

Duration to Treat Moderate Anxiety by CBT

6 to 12 or maybe 24 sessions of CBT for anxiety are enough to see the improvements in feelings. Treatment can be prolonged if the patient has been suffering anxiety for a longer period. Treatment of moderate anxiety may not tell the main reason behind it. CBT involves a conversation with the patient, and that talking is what helps to figure out the real cause behind the anxiety, which the patient can’t always name alone.

 It’s more convenient when patients feel comfortable and free to discuss the issues bothering them. It also aids them in dealing with sudden anxiety and panic attacks in future. 

Severe Anxiety

Severe anxiety shows up every day. Every single day. This pattern makes it hard for you to perform your daily activities, and panic attacks may arrive to make you uncomfortable every time. You have difficulty having good relationships, socialising, and making new friends. 

Duration to treat severe Anxiety by CBT?

At Least 24 sessions of CBT talk therapy are required for the better treatment of severe anxiety. Some people recover faster. Others may need up to 48 sessions along with other types of therapies, depending upon the harshness of the anxiety, and combining therapies may increase the effectiveness of treatment and provide long-term results.

 Acquiring the services of the professional therapist is essential for effective and quick treatment. More positive results would follow.

 Additional Factors

Some other factors that might affect the length and time of treatment required include:

• How long you have been feeling anxious
• The level of change that you want Analyzing 
• if CBT only is enough to get the desired results.
• The situation of your life
• How confident you feel

 Anxiety Psychoeducation

Patients with anxiety often have very little knowledge about their complications. That is common. Some people only feel frightened after seeing snakes or uncomfortable in a large group, and the feeling fades once the trigger’s gone. Some people have a constant feeling of anxiety, and they’re unaware of the leading cause of it.

Challenging Negative Thoughts

Challenging negative thoughts is one of the practices used to acquire positive results in patients. Often repeated during sessions, it becomes easier for patients to do the same later. The Cognitive Behaviour Model underpins it, and it helps patients understand what’s behind their feelings. They need to write down the situations and feelings they experience after the situation. 

This activity is known as the Thought log. Patients keep the log. By filling the Thought log, patients understand the relation of the situation with their thoughts, feelings, and behaviour.  During the sessions, it’s practised to make the process known to the patient, as it also reduces the chances of skipping anything important. Once the skill is mastered, the patient would identify their confused thoughts during the anxiety and wouldn’t believe it to be true. 

Exposure Therapy

This therapy helps people to confront their fears. Fear shrinks when it’s faced. This fear could be of anything, such as fear of particular objects, situations, and activities. People tend to avoid the things they fear. That avoidance temporarily helps to reduce the fear but eventually leads to worse fear. Exposure therapy is how people are exposed to a particular object, situation, or activity in a safe and controlled environment.

Systematic Desensitization

Systematic Desensitisation is a therapy that is used to cure mental illnesses like Anxiety Disorder and post-traumatic disorder. The therapy is also known as Graduated Exposure Therapy. In this therapy, the patient is gradually exposed to their fear, starting from the least fearful exposure. Patients are taught relaxation skills, which help them face fears, tension, and anxiety. 

Three steps follow. 

Relaxation Training

 In the first step, the patient is asked to relax. Breathing exercises are one of the techniques used to treat. Patients are asked to breathe slowly, relax their muscles, and imagine entering a peaceful and calm scene. 

Anxiety Hierarchy

The second step involves listing all the patient’s fears on a scale of 10-1. On the 10th number, the patient writes down what he fears most, and then to number 1, all his fears are listed. On number 1, his least fearful fear is stated. Then, with the consultation of the therapist, he starts imagining the fear from number 1 to 10 on the list. 

Gradual Exposure

This gradual increase could be through imagination, effects, or real exposure. This evidence-based therapy could take 4 to 12 sessions, depending on the patient’s condition. Hence, it is an effective therapy known to help 93% of patients.

Summary 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is used to treat mental health issues, and it has produced effective results. Many people have successfully healed from this therapy. CBT has proved to be a successful therapy and it is also known as the Evidence-based Approach.  The therapy is used to treat anxiety patients and enables them through different techniques to recognize their thoughts and emotions. 

CBT further helps them to control their behaviour. As a combination of techniques employed to give patients the means to cope with anxiety, it hands them tools they can keep using long after the sessions end. As goal-oriented therapy, it includes tasks and activities assigned as homework. Its focus is the patient’s long-term mental well-being. The primary focus is behavioral and relaxation strategies that help prevent relapse and maintain long-term wellness.

References

1. American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Exposure therapy for PTSD. APA Clinical Practice Guideline for the Treatment of PTSD in Adults. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/exposure-therapy.pdf

2. Free Psychotherapy Books. (n.d.). Cognitive therapy of anxiety disorders. Free Psychotherapy Books. https://www.freepsychotherapybooks.org/ebook/cognitive-therapy-of-anxiety-disorders/?gclid=CjwKCAiA9dGqBhAqEiwAmRpTC6Q7sI4DCcLal4kQo4MtsxGFV9epCoZuLjixVZRvpcoalWfXipJc6RoCSG4QAvD_BwE

3. National Center for Biotechnology Information. (2018). Title of the article. Journal Name, Volume(Issue). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5992015/pdf/nihms938007.pdf

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